The usage of rice, at first a speciawty of de Safavid Empire's court cuisine, evowved by de end of de 16f century CE into a major branch of Iranian cookery.[17] Traditionawwy, rice was most prevawent as a major stapwe item in nordern Iran and de homes of de weawdy, whiwe bread was de dominant stapwe in de rest of de country.

Chewow is pwain rice served as an accompaniment to a stew or kebab, whiwe powow is rice mixed wif someding. They are, however, cooked in de same way. Rice is prepared by soaking in sawted water and den boiwing it. The parboiwed rice (cawwed chewow) is drained and returned to de pot to be steamed. This medod resuwts in an exceptionawwy fwuffy rice wif de rice grains separated and not sticky. A gowden crust, cawwed tadig, is created at de bottom of de pot using a din wayer of bread or potato swices. Often, tadig is served pwain wif onwy a rice crust. Meat, vegetabwes, nuts, and fruit are sometimes added in wayers or mixed wif de chewow and den steamed. When chewow is in de pot, de heat is reduced and a dick cwof or towew is pwaced under de pot wid to absorb excess steam.

Rice dat is cooked awmost de same as kateh, but at de start, ingredients dat can be cooked doroughwy wif de rice (such as grains and beans) are added. Whiwe making kateh, de heat is reduced to a minimum untiw de rice and oder ingredients are awmost cooked. If kept wong enough on de stove widout burning and over-cooking, dami and kateh can awso produce tadig. A speciaw form of dami is tachin, which is a mixture of yogurt, chicken (or wamb) and rice, pwus saffron and egg yowks.

Agricuwture of Iran produces many fruits and vegetabwes. Thus, a boww of fresh fruit is common on Iranian tabwes, and vegetabwes are standard sides to most meaws. These are not onwy enjoyed fresh and ripe as desserts, but are awso combined wif meat and form accompaniments to main dishes.[20] When fresh fruits are not avaiwabwe, a warge variety of dried fruits such as dates, fig, apricots and peach are used instead. Soudern Iran is one of de worwd's major date producers, where some speciaw cuwtivars such as de Bam date are grown, uh-hah-hah-hah.

Fruit dowma is probabwy a speciawty of Iranian cuisine. The fruit is first cooked, den stuffed wif meat, seasonings, and sometimes tomato sauce. The dowma is den simmered in meat brof or a sweet-and-sour sauce.[22]

Verjuice, a highwy acidic juice made by pressing unripe grapes or oder sour fruit, is used in various Iranian dishes.[23] It is mainwy used widin soup and stew dishes, but awso to simmer a type of sqwash dowma. Unripe grapes are awso used whowe in some dishes such as khoresh e qwre (wamb stew wif sour grapes). As a spice, verjuice powder (pudr e qwre) is sometimes reinforced by verjuice and den dried.

Advieh or chāshni refers to a wide variety of pungent vegetabwes and dried fruits dat are used in Iranian cuisine to fwavor food.

One of de traditionaw and most widespread Iranian spices is saffron, derived from de fwower of Crocus sativus. Rose water, a fwavored water made by steeping rose petaws in water, is awso a traditionaw and common ingredient in many Iranian dishes.

Persian hogweed (gowpar), which grows wiwd in de humid mountainous regions of Iran, is used as a spice in various Iranian soups and stews. It is awso mixed wif vinegar into which wettuce weaves are dipped before eating.

There are awso severaw traditionaw combinations of spices, two of which are arde—made from toasted ground huwwed sesame seeds, and dewaw sauce—made of heavy sawted fresh herbs such as ciwantro and parswey.

In Iran, kebabs are served eider wif rice or wif bread. A dish of chewow white rice wif kebab is cawwed chewow kabab, which is considered de nationaw dish of Iran, uh-hah-hah-hah. The rice can awso be prepared using de kateh medod, and hence de dish wouwd be cawwed kateh kabab.

The fowwowing tabwe wists severaw forms of kebab used in Iranian cuisine.

Khoresh is an Iranian form of stew, which is usuawwy accompanied by a pwate of white rice. A khoresh typicawwy consists of herbs, fruits, and meat pieces, fwavored wif tomato paste, saffron, and pomegranate juice. Oder non-khoresh types of stew such as dizi are accompanied by bread instead of rice.

There are various forms of soup in Iranian cuisine, incwuding sup e jow ("barwey soup"), sup e esfenaj ("spinach soup"), sup e qarch ("mushroom soup"), and severaw forms of "dick soup". A dick soup is referred to as āsh in Iran, which is an Iranian traditionaw form of soup.[34] Awso, showe qawamkar is de Iranian term for "Hodge-Podge" soup,[35] a soup made of a mixture of various ingredients.

The fowwowing tabwe wists a number of soup and āsh dishes in Iranian cuisine.

Apart from dishes of rice wif kebab or stew, dere are various rice-based Iranian dishes cooked in de traditionaw medods of powow and dami.

Powow is de Iranian word for piwaf. A powow dish incwudes rice stuffed wif cuts of vegetabwes, fruits, and beans, usuawwy accompanied by eider chicken or red meat. Dami dishes are simpwy de same ding cooked using de dami medod.

In 400 BC, de ancient Iranians invented a speciaw chiwwed food, made of rose water and vermicewwi, which was served to royawty in summertime.[46] The ice was mixed wif saffron, fruits, and various oder fwavors. Today, one of de most famous Iranian desserts in de semi-frozen noodwe dessert known as fawude, which has its roots in de city of Shiraz, a former capitaw of de country.[47][48]Bastani e zaferani, Persian for "saffron ice cream", is a traditionaw Iranian ice cream which is awso commonwy referred to as "de traditionaw ice cream". Oder typicaw Iranian desserts incwude severaw forms of rice, wheat and dairy desserts.

Cookies appear to have deir origins in 7f-century Iran, shortwy after de use of sugar became rewativewy common in de region, uh-hah-hah-hah.[50] There are numerous traditionaw native and adopted types of snack food in modern Iran, of which some are wisted widin de fowwowing tabwe.

Iran is de worwd's 7f major tea producer,[54] mostwy cuwtivated in its nordern regions. In Iranian cuwture, tea (čāy) is widewy consumed[55][56] and is typicawwy de first ding offered to a guest.[57] Iranians traditionawwy put a wump of sugar cube in de mouf before drinking de tea.[58]Rock candies are awso widewy used, typicawwy fwavored wif saffron.

Iran's traditionaw coffee (qahve, or kāfe) is served strong, sweet, and "booby-trapped wif a sediment of grounds".[59] In 16f-century Safavid Iran, coffee was initiawwy used for medicaw purposes among de society.[60] Traditionaw coffeehouses were popuwar gaderings, in which peopwe drank coffee, smoked tobacco, and recited poetry—especiawwy de epic poems of Šāhnāme.[61] In present-day Iran, cafés are trendy mostwy in urban areas, where a variety of brews and desserts are served.[59]Turkish coffee is awso popuwar in Iran, more specificawwy among Iranian Azeris.[62][63]

Wine (mey) has awso a significant presence in Iranian cuwture. Shirazi wine is Iran's historicawwy most famous wine production, originating from de city of Shiraz.[64][65][66] By de 9f century, de city of Shiraz had awready estabwished a reputation for producing de finest wine in de worwd,[65] and was Iran's wine capitaw. Since de 1979 Revowution, awcohowic beverages have been prohibited in Iran; dough non-Muswim recognized minorities (i.e. Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians) are awwowed to produce awcohowic beverages for deir own use.[67] Whiwe non-awcohowic beer (ābjow) is avaiwabwe from wegaw outwets, oder citizens prepare deir awcohowic beverages iwwegawwy drough de minority groups[68][69][70] and wargewy from Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkey.[71]

Araq sagi, witerawwy meaning "doggy distiwwate", is a type of distiwwed awcohowic beverage in Iran which contains at weast 65% pure edanow. It is usuawwy produced at homes from raisins, and is simiwar to Turkish rakı.[72] Prior to de 1979 Revowution, it had been produced traditionawwy in severaw cities of Iran, uh-hah-hah-hah. Since it was outwawed fowwowing de 1979 Revowution, it has become a bwack market and underground business.

Meat and dates are de main ingredients in de cuisine of Iran's soudeastern region of Bawuchistan.[80][81] Rice is primariwy cuwtivated in de region of Makran.[80][81] Foods dat are specific to de Iranian region of Bawuchistan incwude tanurche (tarōnča; tanurče), a wocaw variety of griwwed meat dat is prepared in a tanur, doogh-pa (dōq-pâ), a type of khoresh dat contains doogh, and tabahag (tabâhag), dat is meat prepared wif pomegranate powder.[80][81] Bawuchi cuisine awso incwudes severaw date-based dishes, as weww as various types of bread.[80][81]

The soudern coast of de Caspian Sea, which consists of de Iranian provinces of Giwan, Mazanderan, and Gowestan, has a fertiwe environment dat is awso refwected in its cuisine.[82][83]Kateh is a medod of cooking rice dat originates from dis region, uh-hah-hah-hah.[84] This type of rice dish is awso eaten dere as a breakfast meaw, eider heated wif miwk and jam or cowd wif cheese and garwic. Caviar fish roes awso haiw from dis region, and are typicawwy served wif eggs in frittatas and omewettes. Locaw cookies (kowuče) of de region are awso popuwar.[83]

The food of soudern Iran is typicawwy spicy.[89]Mahyawa is a tangy sauce made of fermented fish in dis region, uh-hah-hah-hah.[citation needed] Being a coastaw region, Khuzestan's cuisine incwudes especiawwy seafood, as weww as some uniqwe wocaw beverages.[90] In soudern Khuzestan, dere is awso a variation of kufte dat is known as kibbeh and is made of ground meat, cracked wheat, and various spices.

Many cities and towns across Iran feature deir own distinct versions of breakfast dishes. Pache, a popuwar traditionaw dish widewy eaten in Iran and de neighboring Caucasus, is awmost awways onwy served from dree in de morning untiw sometime after dawn, and speciawty restaurants (serving onwy pache) are onwy open during dose hours.

Traditionaw Iranian cooking is done in stages, at times needing hours of preparation and attention, uh-hah-hah-hah. The outcome is a weww-bawanced mixture of herbs, meat, beans, dairy products, and vegetabwes. Major stapwes of Iranian food dat are usuawwy eaten wif every meaw incwude rice, various herbs, cheese, a variety of fwat breads, and some type of meat (usuawwy pouwtry, beef, wamb, or fish). Stew over rice is by far de most popuwar dish, and de constitution of dese vary by region, uh-hah-hah-hah.

Traditionaw Iranian tabwe setting firstwy invowves de tabwecwof, cawwed sofre, and is spread out over eider a tabwe or a rug. Main dishes are concentrated in de middwe, surrounded by smawwer dishes containing appetizers, condiments, and side dishes, aww of which are nearest to de diners. When de food is perfectwy served, an invitation is made to seat at de sofre and start having de meaw.

Awdough de Arabic cookbooks written under de ruwe of de Abbasid Cawiphate—one of de Arab cawiphates which ruwed Iran after de Muswim invasion—incwude some recipes wif Iranian names, de earwiest surviving cwassicaw cookbooks in Persian are two vowumes from de Safavid period. The owder one is entitwed "Manuaw on cooking and its craft" (Kār-nāmeh dar bāb e tabbāxī va sanat e ān) written in 927/1521 for an aristocratic patron at de end of de reign of Ismaiw I. The book originawwy contained 26 chapters, wisted by de audor in his introduction, but chapters 23 drough 26 are missing from de surviving manuscript. The recipes incwude measurements for ingredients—often detaiwed directions for de preparation of dishes, incwuding de types of utensiws and pots to be used—and instructions for decorating and serving dem. In generaw, de ingredients and deir combinations in various recipes do not differ significantwy from dose in use today. The warge qwantities specified, as weww as de generous use of such wuxury ingredients as saffron, suggest dat dese dishes were prepared for warge aristocratic househowds, even dough in his introduction, de audor cwaimed to have written it "for de benefit of de nobiwity, as weww as de pubwic."

The second surviving Safavid cookbook, entitwed "The substance of wife, a treatise on de art of cooking" (Māddat aw-ḥayāt, resāwa dar ʿewm e ṭabbāxī), was written about 76 years water by a chef for Abbas I. The introduction of dat book incwudes ewaborate praise of God, de prophets, de imams, and de shah, as weww as a definition of a master chef. It is fowwowed by six chapters on de preparation of various dishes: four on rice dishes, one on qawya, and one on āsh. The measurements and directions are not as detaiwed as in de earwier book. The information provided is about dishes prepared at de royaw court, incwuding references to a few dat had been created or improved by de shahs demsewves. Oder contemporary cooks and deir speciawties are awso mentioned.[92]

^"Cuwturaw Life". Tehrān. Encycwopædia Britannica. Retrieved Apriw 16, 2018. Persian cuisine is characterized by de use of wime and saffron, de bwend of meats wif fruits and nuts, a uniqwe way of cooking rice, and Iranian hospitawity. Food is subtwy spiced, dewicate in fwavour and appearance, and not typicawwy hot or spicy. Many recipes date back to ancient times; Iran’s historicaw contacts have assisted in de exchange of ingredients, fwavours, textures, and stywes wif various cuwtures ranging from de Mediterranean Sea region to China, some of whom retain dese infwuences today.